The present invention relates generally to a paper identification counter for identifying and counting papers and to a paper identification counting method, and, more particularly, relates to a desktop type currency note identification counter and paper identification and counting method, capable of performing currency note denomination judgment or discrimination and counting processing at a high speed.
Such a paper identification counter has a form of, for example, a desktop type currency note identification counter for performing discrimination or judgement of currency note denomination or counting processing.
The conventional desktop type currency note identification counter has a hopper which is disposed at a top portion of a counter body on a front side thereof and into which are fed and stacked currency notes to be identified. When this identification counter is operated, a stack of currency notes stored in the hopper are delivered one by one by a delivery roller. The thus delivered currency notes are transported one by one along a conveyance passage within the counter body in the short-side (width) direction of currency notes. An identification unit is disposed on the way of the conveyance passage to effect the currency note denomination judgment (discrimination) or true-counterfeit judgment (discrimination) processing, to thereby count the number of currency notes or the sum thereof.
After the denomination discrimination and counting by the identification unit, the currency notes are directed through the downstream conveyance passage to a stacker, from which the currency notes are retrieved.
The conventional currency note identification counter is arranged such that the currency notes delivered from the hopper are reversed largely by the delivery roller, after which they are led to the stacker through a substantially rectilinear conveyance passage. In this case, the identification unit is disposed on the way of the rectilinear conveyance passage (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,912,982 and 5,692,067).
Due to the substantially rectilinear configuration of the note conveyance passage, it would be difficult for the conventional currency note identification counter to secure a sufficient conveyance passage length. In the event that the currency note identification counter is of a small-sized, compact desktop type in particular, it is inevitable, because of its short conveyance passage length, to perform the currency note identification and counting processing at a low speed of the order of 700 to 800 sheets per minute, making the high-speed processing difficult.
In the currency note identification counter, any counterfeit bills or damaged notes need to be excluded or rejected from objects to be identified and counted. For this purpose, it is necessary after the identification of the currency notes by the identification unit to operate a reject mechanism while making a check of the passage timing of the currency notes to be rejected, which will necessitate a conveyance passage length corresponding to the time between the start of the check and the start of the operation. A predetermined time will also be needed for the processing of identification signals from the identification unit or for the operation of the reject mechanism. A further speedup will need a greater distance through which the currency notes must be conveyed along the conveyance passage within a predetermined time.
In the case of the small-sized desktop currency note identification counter, it would not be practical to enhance the currency note counting processing speed due to the difficulty to secure the sufficient length of the downstream conveyance passage of the identification unit. For this reason, the identification counter could process only 700 to 800 notes per minute, or at most about 1,000 notes per minute.
The currency notes, typical papers, may include various notes such as notes liable to fold or notes with folded corners. In the event that the currency notes in various conditions are brought into the conveyance passage, they may possibly jam on the way of the conveyance passage. For this reason, the currency note identification counter has to prevent the occurrence of any jamming or take any measures against the possible jamming, such as rapidly stopping the feed of the currency notes to simply reject the jammed notes.
However, the conventional currency note identification counter allows for by no means the sufficient measures against the jamming, and, once the currency notes jam on the way of the conveyance passage, makes it difficult to simply remove the jammed notes.
Furthermore, the identification of the currency notes by the identification unit is merely effected by partially sensing the features of the currency notes, with the result that only the currency notes of a specific country can be identified. It would thus be difficult to enhance the currency note identification abilities and to impart the versatility to the identification unit. For this reason, the conventional currency note identification counter can handle only the currency notes of a specific country. If it is desired to identify and count the currency notes of the other countries, then additional identification units for identifying the features of the currency notes of the other countries must separately be prepared to replace one identification unit with another depending upon circumstances.